


Stories of the Second Self: Second Year of Forever, Dale Groneck Journal Entry

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [65]
Category: Urban Fantasy - Fandom, lockdown - Fandom, looting - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:14:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22549888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: Dale Groneck writes down year two of his involuntary immortality. With the spread of lawlessness Dale describes his job in the most unlikely of retail security strategies perfectly suited to a vampire with all night to burn.
Series: Alter Idem [65]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: Second Year of Forever, Dale Groneck Journal Entry

Now I know what you're thinking. What's a guy dressed like me doing in a department store late at night dressed like this and sitting in plain sight. Not the best robbery strategy, and to that point you'd be right to think as much. Which is precisely the point.

Wait, let me back up. I'm Dale Groneck that guy who described the real life of undeath. You know, the boring and miserable parts of it. The tedium of nothing much going on at night, especially now. The drag of my job and having to go out just before dawn to score blood like some addict.

Well, things got a bit better for me. Seems that with society coming apart at the seams gave me an opportunity. Retail was already hit hard by Amazon and now it's Alter Idem kicking retail square in the nuts. People were snatching anything not bolted down, and if it was they brought cutters. Your regular mall cops couldn't do shit about it, and that's where this one store manager hit on a great idea.

He saw me walkin' the street looking for work and looking for blood. He was willing to accommodate the first problem, even if he couldn't legally hire a dead guy. See, to the courts and most banks I can't possibly have an estate without a heartbeat. To beat that, this store manager pays me under the table, and pays well. Enough that I could buy this getup and pull the old Assassin's Creed meets Bram Stoker thing.

At first, I didn't get the security really, but I can't bitch. See, the store doesn't have much in it. He still has daytime employees- excuse me, "associates" make up sales displays and announce at store pep rallies what specials are going on. I catch that part while leaving at the end of my graveyard shift.

There was this one time when a couple guys snuck into the place, but they were so stupid I just knew their fix was worse than mine. Meth-heads don't think much through, and these geniuses were planning on stealing store fixtures, and walked right past the jewelry counter. I guess they were starting to cook their own meth and needed something to set their shit on.

A normal intruder or shoplifter would get one look at me and just break into a run. I was never a tough guy back when I was human, and even now I don't see myself as intimidating. However, these guys played off my catching them like they were hired to do nighttime relay crew. I said that the manager would've told me the store was getting a remodel, and that he'd have that work done in the day.

And just like that they turned it around, said they thought the place was abandoned, as though I didn't hear their first bullshit story. I escorted them out the door they broke into getting in, and told them I had permission to feed on anyone busting into the place. That's when they sprinted as though their lives depended on it. Not as if I couldn't catch them. Cool thing about being able to sprint for hours, even if I'm not any faster than they are.

So glad I decided not to suicide myself with daylight. Shit like this makes for funny stories I share with other vampires while we hang out on street corners or parks waiting to buy blood. I might be a nightcrawler, but at least I'm no tweaker. Take it from me, that's a fate worse than death or undeath.


End file.
